Tearing at the seams
by WintersGuardian
Summary: During the South Wind's prayer holiday on the 14 of Morningstar, Saldus finds himself thrown into the unbearable crowd as he had expected, but he didn't expect to find himself in possession of a...Love potion? Now he's stuck with the damn thing, but what happens when the potion ends up in the wrong hands? As usual, he finds his life Tearing at the Seams.
1. Chapter 1

So!~ Third Story!? I have had major writers block for a few months, so I asked my friend (also an Elder Scrolls lover) to make some plot type things. She just jotted some things down. This is what I was presented with:

*Make it in game and modded. (something weird happens because of a mod and how they would react)

*Hunting trip for money with a giant slaughterfish in it somewhere... :/ ?

*Have a quest to get rid of a "love potion," but have it go wrong.

*10 minutes in heaven.

*Have one character die.

*Fluffy scene where one character has a nightmare.

*Fluffy training session.

I decided on the love potion for this story. AND Disclaimer: No I do not own The Elder Scrolls nor any of this that belongs to Bethesda...What? I'm Serious!

Sorry for entry longness...

The cobbled streets were obscured by a layer of frost that glistened in the rising sun, seemingly painting the streets a pallet of oranges and yellows. The shuffle of merchants and other citizens could be heard softly throughout the Talos Plaza as the city slowly began to open its eyes. What a day this would be, trying to hassle through the crowds that would soon gather throughout the Imperial City, for today was the fourteenth of Morningstar, the celebration of South Wind's Prayer. This was a day to beg the so called "gods" for a good crop this year, and as Saldus thought, take advantage of the temples resources. As he walked down the street, nearing the Temple District, Saldus could see a large group of people already waiting for the free healing offered on this holiday.

"Early risers, aren't they?" Saldus pulled his coat tighter around his body, trying to shield himself from the vexatious chill that always seemed to be nipping his nose. That was the only downside to being an Altmer. The aggravating weakness to the elements, so anything cold, was freezing to Saldus.

A weary, hushed-but-not-silent clamor of discombobulated conversations emitted for the crowd as Saldus briskly walked by, keeping his head forward, trying to avoid the several merchants attempting to sell to the large convergence.

"Excuse me?" Saldus stopped. He hadn't realized that one of them was tailing him. He turned around and saw a small imperial woman with short hazel hair and eyes to match.

"Yes?" His response was gentlemanly, not a hint of annoyance or rush showed in his voice. He kept a perfect facade.

"The temple has chosen you. We would like to extend you a welcome into the chapel and offer our services, free of charge."

'Chosen you'? Saldus mentally laughed at the woman. She was foolish is she believed the gods should only heal the ones the temple deemed worthy. As his mother had drilled into him; "any god, false or true, should be faithful to their followers, and aid them when the need arises." He could remember it like yesterday, but even still, his mother could never actually convince him that there were any gods at all, and even if there were, that they would actually help him. Saldus had never once stepped foot in a chapel, and he didn't find it all to appealing to do so now.

"I thank you for your kind offer, milady," The imperial beamed up at him, nodding in response, "However, I must regretfully decline." The woman was still smiling and nodding her head as Saldus turned around and quickly walked off.

That's one dodged so far, now three hundred million more to go. Saldus sighed irritably and placed two fingers between the bridge of his nose. He looked up and ran a gloved hand over his thick white hair and goatee. Today was going to be way longer than it needed to be, and he needed to get back to the Arcane University as soon as possible. He had responsibilities as Arch-mage to fulfil, and trying not to drown in a sea full of bodies was not one of them.

One street after the next, surviving one nightmare after the other, Saldus made it as far as the Arboretum until the horde of disgusting little beings would not permit him to advance any further. He was stuck with thousands of people on one side, and thousands of merchant stands on the other. It seemed like the whole province gathered here just to sell their worthless junk. How they gathered here in such a short time was completely unfathomable. He turned and looked at one of the stands. It was filed with several different potions and alchemical ingredients.

Saldus felt a tremendous wave of relief. Before him was something actually worth buying, so perhaps not all of it was junk. He slipped over to the stand and scanned over the ingredients organized on the small tabletop.

"I will take two of everything." He decided quickly, eager to leave. The small, feeble man behind the desk jumped in surprise. He had not notice his customer until had had spoken. The man, however startled, gained his composer quickly and cleared his throat.

"Forgive me," This man seemed as if he were in another world entirely. "What was it you were saying?"

"Two of everything." Saldus replied in an emotionless way. The mans eyes grew wide with delight.

"T-two of...everything?" He looked at Saldus with a questioning look.

"Yes," Saldus said as he dropped a large coin purse on the table, "Two of Everything."

"Yes, yes of course. I'll get it right away!" The man greedily stared at the back of coins before going to retrieve Saldus's order. The small man's face looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place it...then it clicked. Oh but Saldus did feel dumb. This was Ogier Georick, the tricky little man that owned the Main Ingredient. Always stirring up trouble, always mixing up the wrong potions, and always selling his faulty fabrications for exotic prices, but the man could get his hands on some rare ingredients that not even the Mages Guild could find, and that's the only thing Saldus would give him credit for.

"Keep the change." Saldus said as Ogier handed him a velvet ingredient preserving bag full of the items he had purchased, and just as he was about to leave...

"Umm, sir? Arch-mage?" What did this man want now? It was always best to do your business and leave when it came to Ogier.

"What?" Saldus growled, not even trying to hide his well hidden irritation. Ogier flinched back as the elf turned to face him with an evil look on his face.

"Well, you s-see," He continued. Ogier was rubbing the hem of his high class shirt between his finger tips in frightful attempt to occupy his mind. He was desperately trying to form the right words.

"I well, I need someone to dispose of a powerful potion I accidentally made, and well..." He trailed off leaving Saldus baffled. Why dispose of it if it's powerful?

Ogier could clearly see it on his face, because he continued. "The potion has the power to make whoever drinks it, well, it makes them fall in love," Now Saldus definitely believed the man was insane. "With the first person they see..."

"You did...what?"

"Made a, uhh, love potion?"

"And I am to do, what with said potion?"

"Put it where no body could find it! lock it in the university or something! I don't care, just take it!" Ogier thrust the small, pink bottle into Saldus's hands.

"I have a question first, Ogier, before I agree." Saldus said, turning the bottle over and examining it.

"Yes?"

"Why be rid of it?" Ogier froze. A look of pure fear plastered on his face.

"I'm afraid. Afraid of the gods. Love is Mara's work; it's not my place to interfere. Now, please, I beg you, take it away!" So eager to oblige, Saldus left as quickly as he came. In other words, not moving until another hour. Oh, but it was going to be a long day indeed.

Chapter 1 complete...wait no..I have to go back and fix italics an what not. Well, I'll do that later, anyway, as usual, leave a comment, please! :p criticism is well appreciated and if you just suddenly have an idea that you think would be cool, or you want me to use more than one of the things on the list, please tell me! I will try very hard to add it in. I might even add some of your characters if you describe them good enough to me. If you do have a character for me, send me a PM describing both physical and metal traits of your OC, and I'll see what I can do.(this will probably have Vicente in this so, heads up!) Thanks for reading and for all the support! See ya next chapter! ;D


	2. Chapter 2

The clicking of footsteps sounded outside of the Arcane University as Saldus made his way to the thick oak doors. On step at a time, he made his way passed varieties of mages and workaholics alike. It was only when he reached the teleportation pad, did he feel a tremendous wave of relief wash over him. His figure dissipated when the tendrils of magic enveloped his form, transporting him to his bed chambers. The room wasn't small, but it wasn't as spacey as Saldus would have liked. He unbuckled his Arch-mage's robes and tossed them lazily onto his bed. His tall, elven form now donned a lose white tunic, a pair of leather trousers, and his worn yet very clean boots.

Saldus hung his travel pack on the frame of the bed. As he sat on the silk sheets, he pulled out the small glass bottle that he had received earlier that morning. He examined the tan colored labeling wrapped around the bottle and tried to make out the poor writing.

"'DO NOT DRINK!' Well that's certainly helpful. I'll keep that in mind." He opened the drawer to his night stand and placed the bottle inside. Making sure he didn't leave it there and mistake it for a sleeping draught, he took a quill and a spare parchment and wrote himself a reminder. Then, with nothing better to do, he leaned back onto his bed. He could feel a sharp pain in his bones as his stressed joints finally got a chance to rest.

"Just for a moment." He mumbled to himself as his eyes closed wearily and he drifted to sleep.

A warm mist shrouded the small room that Saldus was in. The walls were painted with a clearly expensive crimson, and he could not help but admire the nicely done gold framing of the walls and doors. This place was oddly familiar to Saldus and he couldn't help wonder were he had seen this room before. He felt as though he should know and yet, he couldn't recall when he had ever set foot here. A thought ran through his mind and it suddenly dawned on him that he was dreaming. Perhaps he had seen it in a book?

"Yes that must be it." It was not unheard of him visiting places he had seen or read about in his sleep. In fact, he did it quite often, but still, something didn't feel right.

A low pool, almost a growl, of laughter could be heard behind him. Saldus whipped around, only to be greeted by the wall. To his horror, it seemed to be alive and moving. The walls were dripping, pouring out and soaking his boots, turning the black leather crimson. It looked exactly like blood. The thought sickened him and Saldus could feel a vile liquid trying to force itself out of his throat.

The laughter became louder as the room began to fill with blood; it was already up to his knees. He looked desperately for a way out, the only exit being the door which was blocked by the sickening red liquid. Saldus made a run for it and as he burst through the door frame, he became soaked, his shirt becoming stained red. The smell of death filled his nostrils. It smelled as if a dead man had been sitting in front of him and had been deceased for at least two months. Perhaps there was, but he couldn't see through the void of darkness concealing the room.

The overwhelming feeling of disgust ran through Saldus and again he felt as if he were about to vomit. He was shaking violently and breathing heavily. Having a bit of dirt on him made him feel like screaming, and so he didn't know how much more he could take. At that moment a light burst through the chamber and he could see everything. The sight caused him to fall to his knees and retch all over the floor. A blooded table with about seven mutilated corpses and embalming tools sat in the middle of the room. Body parts and flies were scattered about, a few of them flew around Saldus and landed on him. He moved him arm to wipe off his mouth and swat at the flies but when he did, blood dripped from his hair and slid down his face.

"Well that is grand." The laughing voice from earlier sounded in his ears. Saldus grimaced and shivered, trying to focus on anything that could pull him out of this nightmare.

"You know, I _really _wanted to know what you had for lunch." Saldus scoffed at the sarcasm in the man's voice. As if the floor were clean to begin with.

"What do you want from me." Saldus asked the man wearily. He was not entirely sure he wanted to know, but he asked anyway. Out of instinct perhaps?

"Soon." And that was all the man said. He didn't show himself or even offer an explanation as to what brought Saldus here. He could feel the lack of a presence in the air, making him uneasy. A watery sound could be heard from the other room and Saldus feared the worse. He looked down as he felt the warm red liquid pool around his hands and knees. The blood was seeping through the floor, the walls, everywhere. It was coming quickly, already filling up to his waist as he sat on his haunches.

"What do you want!?" He screamed at the corpses on the table. It was clear to him that he wasn't getting out and in his panic, he had forgotten it was all a dream.

Saldus stood up when the blood reached his chest, it now covering his lover half from his waist down. He ran around frantically, splashing the blood up on to himself and causing the floating severed limbs that were on the floor to drift toward him.

"What did I do?!" He kept screaming at the air, his voice becoming hoarse. Breathless, he stopped and waded over to the table. He needed to get to higher ground. He swallowed hard and slowly reached his hand out to one of the bodies. His fingers grasped its cold, dead arm and as he pulled to try and move it, the rotten limb ripped free from the body with a fleshy pop as the bone was dislocated. Saldus quickly dropped the arm and wiped his hand on the top part of his bloody shirt, the only part that was dry and crusted with old blood.

He needed to get on the table, so Saldus gently and hesitantly climbed onto the corpses. As he did, he covered his mouth with the inside of his elbow and tried to ignore the vile stench that burned his nose and the back of his throat. To say nothing of the rotten bodies beneath him.

When he finally stood, it made little difference. The blood was already back up to his thighs. With all hope lost He uncovered his mouth and waited for the liquid to engulf him. Within moments, the blood was up to his neck and as it got up to his cheek bones, he screamed one last time, the thick crimson water filling his mouth, entering his lungs and suffocating him.


End file.
